Top 10: Oscar Snubs

Number 6

Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actor for Titanic (1997)

How would you feel if you starred in a major blockbuster that made a mint at the box office, and the film ended up receiving the most Academy Award nominations and wins ever, with everybody from the director to the film editor being recognized, but somehow you were left high and dry floating away on a piece of driftwood? Well, you’d feel like Leonardo did about a decade ago when he didn’t even get a phone call from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Poor guy.

Number 5

Stanley Kubrick

Best Director for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder turned Stanley Kubrick into a director who made many demands of his film team and who never stopped until he attained his perfection. Perhaps his relentless pursuit of genius made him seem a little insane, but it worked: He made 16 films in less than half a century. His body of work is compelling and high-quality: A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket are just a few of the titles that are in the Kubrick catalog. But where do genius and perfectionism really get you? Well, in 1969, he got a major snub for what is perhaps his most lasting achievement, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Instead, Carol Reed received the Best Director Oscar for Oliver! That could drive anyone mad.

Number 4

Citizen Kane (1941)

Best Picture

As surely as you can expect to see Stairway to Heaven at the top of any rock critic’s list of Best All-Time Songs, you will find Citizen Kane at the top of a film critic’s Best All-Time Movies list — or at least on the Top 10. Many attributed this major snub to the fact that it was strongly based on the life of the very powerful and infuriated Randolph Hearst. And critical accolades didn’t matter when this award was given out: On Oscar night, Kane was booed each of the nine times it was announced for an award. Ouch. The award for Best Picture that year went to How Green Was My Valley.